International Easter Workshop
Sun 25th of March – Mon 2nd of April (Easter Monday) 2018 at wannseeFORUM, Berlin

This year over Easter we are inviting around 40 young people between the ages of 16 and 22 from Germany, Turkey, Italy, and Bulgaria to our International Easter Workshop “Roads to Anatevka: Tradition, Religion, Migration” at wannseeFORUM in Berlin. In collaboration with our local partners Circus Schatzinsel and Komische Oper Berlin our programme consists of nine days of international youth exchange through artistic workshops and group activities, based on the world-famous musical “Fiddler on the Roof” (in German: “Anatevka”).

At a glance:

International Easter Workshop means …

meeting youths from all over Europe

exploring a world-famous work of musical theatre

working with professional artists and participate in small groups of intense artistic workshops

What is it about?

Our project “Roads to Anatevka: Tradition, Religion, Migration” focuses on Jerry Bock’s world-famous musical “Fiddler on the Roof” (aka “Anatevka”), which was recently and successfully restaged at Komische Oper Berlin, one of Germany’s leading musical theatres. The story of “Anatevka” is set in early 20th-century Russia. It is a both tragical as well as life-affirming story of a Jewish family, torn between religious traditions and striving for self-determination – resulting in a serious generation gap and inner-family conflicts, all set against the backdrop of anti-Jewish pogroms and, ultimaltely, the expulsions of the Jews from Anatevka.

In our project we take this story as a starting point to investigate into the question what “Anatevka” means or can mean – that is: for us today, right here and now. After all the story of Tevje, the poor milkman, and his family contains many controversial topics that are currently being hotly debated in Berlin, Germany, and the whole of Europe – for example: generation gaps, conflicts between tradition(s) and modernity, the emancipation of young women, discrimination, flight and migration – but also empowerment through solidarity and the hope for a better future.

Our programme

We will be spending nine days in our international group together at wannseeFORUM. Every day we will delve deeper into the topic of our project, both with the whole group and in four parallel artistic workshops of 8 to 10 participants. Under the guidance of professional artists participants will explore the story and music of “Anatevka”. They will search for their own “Roads to Anatevka” and develop their own interpretations and artistic creations, which will be publicly presented at a circus tent in central Berlin at the end of the seminar. At the last night of the exchange we will go to Komische Oper to see a live performance of the new stage production of “Anatevka”.
Building the artistic groups will take place on the second day of the exchange in the entire group. For every participating country we have reserved 2-3 places in each workshop group.
Apart from the daily workshop programm there will also be shared activities and excursions to the Berlin center. At wannseeFORUM we have a theatre hall, different studios, and beautiful lakeside grounds at our disposal.

Participating

Participants from Turkey, Bulgaria, and Italy are asked to apply through our partner organisations (see above). Participants from Berlin need to get in touch with our partner Circus Schatzinsel (email contact).

At a glance: our most important terms and conditions of participation:

you are between the ages of 16 to 22 during the time period of the seminar

you are interested in our topic for this year’s seminar

you would like to develop or discover artistic skills

you are interested in working artistically, learning and living with a diverse group

you understand and speak enough English to order a meal

you are interested and have the time to help prepare the youth exchange

you are interested in developing the communal living of the group

No previous artistic skills necessary.

Costs: 100 €, incl. accommodation (4 meals per day) und overnight stay in mostly 2- to 3-bed-rooms with personal bathrooms.
Thanks to our funding through the “Erasmus+ / YOUTH IN ACTION” EU-programme we can reimburse travel costs between 70-100 %.
wannseeFORUM aims to support the participation of refugees with a reduced participation fee. Please contact the project leader for further information.